Have you ever tried driving around Los Angeles? What about New York City? Then you are familiar with traffic jams.
The going is slow and there’s nothing you can do to get to your destination faster. The only solution is to try driving when other people aren’t on the road. And in popular cities, that’s only around 3 AM.
Internet traffic works in a similar way to road congestion. Too many people are trying to use the same resource at one time. But there are only so many lanes, so to speak, that power an internet network.
If there is high demand, that means the internet connection will be slower for everyone.
But what exactly is online traffic, and what causes these annoying jams? Keep reading our guide to understanding internet traffic down below.
Sharing Files
One of the biggest offenders when it comes to web traffic is file sharing. When you are uploading, sending, or downloading large files, you are using up a ton of network bandwidth.
What can you do about this? There are various software programs designed to solve this issue.
One of the originals is Bit Torrent, the software you probably used as a teenager to illegally download music albums. But Bit Torrent has a legitimate use case.
When users are interacting with files through Bit Torrent, they become nodes on the network. They can share their own network resources as other users download their files, helping to decentralize and distribute the internet traffic.
Video Calls
Millions of workers across the US and worldwide have become very familiar with video conferencing in recent years. Even as many people have returned to work after a period of remote work, video conference is still the norm.
But using platforms like Zoom to facilitate video calls is very resource-intensive. It creates a ton of network traffic, as you’re having to transmit live video and audio feeds across the network.
Implement Failover
There are many things you can do to aid with your traffic management on your website or on your network, as mentioned above.
Another tip is to implement internet load balancing and failover. Failover is a critical function for businesses that need to remain online at all times.
When internet traffic gets so bad, you run the risk of overloading the server. This could shut down the server and cutoff your connection. But you can’t wait for it to come back online, as your team needs access to the internet constantly.
That’s where failover comes in handy. If your main server goes offline, your secondary network kicks in automatically, keeping you online.
See here to learn more about the importance of failover and internet load balancing.
Learn to Manage Internet Traffic
Internet traffic is a complicated topic. Most people are aware of the symptoms of traffic, such as a slow internet connection of downloads that can’t complete.
But very few people know why online traffic jams occur and what to do about them.
If you operate a business, it’s vital that you educate yourself on network traffic best practices to ensure your team remains online at all times.
Looking for more tech tips like this? Visit our blog now to keep reading.
